Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW or Florida SouthWestern) is a
public college
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
with its main campus in
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
. It is part of the
Florida College System
The Florida College System, previously the Florida Community College System, is a system of 28 public community colleges and state colleges in the U.S. state of Florida. In 2013-14, enrollment consisted of more than 813,000 students. Together w ...
. The college has
satellite campus
A satellite campus or branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or coun ...
es in
Charlotte County and
Collier County
Collier County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, where the county offices were moved from ...
, and outreach programs in
Hendry County
Hendry County is a county in the Florida Heartland region of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,619, down from 42,022 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is LaBelle.
Hendry County comprises the Clewisto ...
and
Glades County.
FSW was founded in 1962 as Edison Junior College, named after
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
, and was subsequently renamed Edison Community College in 1972, Edison College in 2004, Edison State College in 2008, and Florida SouthWestern State College in 2014.
History
Florida SouthWestern State College, originally known as Edison Junior College, admitted its first students in the fall of 1962. The college was named after the inventor and industrialist Thomas Edison who frequently wintered in Fort Myers. The Lee Campus (now known as the Thomas Edison Campus) opened in 1965 on an 80-acre site with three buildings. The school's nursing program began on campus with a $50,000 donation in 1968.
The college's name changed to Edison Community College in 1972, shortly after the first nursing class graduated. Ten years later, in 1982, a branch campus of the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...
was dedicated. The college's primary arts center, the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, opened in 1986 and serves as the premier Performing Arts venue in Lee County.
Construction on the Collier County Campus at Lely lasted from 1991 to 1992, on a site in
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...
. Soon after that, the Charlotte County Campus opened in 1997, on a plot of land in
Punta Gorda, Florida
, nickname =
, settlement_type = List of municipalities in Florida, City
, motto =
, image_skyline = Punta Gorda City Hall.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption ...
. This is the largest campus to date. The college revised its mission by publishing a new strategic plan, ''The Decade of Promise'', in 2002. The college again changed its name in 2004, to simply Edison College.
The college continued to expand through the 2000s with increased funding for the nursing program and the new Richard H. Rush Library on the Lee Campus. In 2008, the college saw its fourth name change to Edison State College, and a new torch logo with blue and yellow colors to reflect the college's new status as a
baccalaureate-granting state college. Multiple new baccalaureate programs opened over the next decade, including Middle Grades Mathematics, Sciences, and Language Arts Education; Applied Science in Public Safety Management; Elementary Education; and Secondary Education Biology and Mathematics.
The name, logo, and colors were changed for the fifth and most recent time in 2014. This name broke ties to Thomas Edison, who was the college's former namesake. The new name, Florida SouthWestern State College, was created in response to reflect the wide geographic region the college serves. Another reason for the change was to avoid confusion with
Thomas Edison State College
Thomas Edison State University (TESU) is a public university in Trenton, New Jersey. The university is one of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education. Thomas Edison State University offers degrees at the undergraduate and ...
of New Jersey due to new online courses with a nationwide reach.
Academics
FSW offers 21
associate degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
Th ...
, 5
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
, and 18
certificate
Certificate may refer to:
* Birth certificate
* Marriage certificate
* Death certificate
* Gift certificate
* Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something
* Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pr ...
programs, with an emphasis on healthcare, business, technology, and education programs. The college also enrolls more than 3,500
dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...
students each year. Non-credit
continuing education
Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada.
...
courses are also offered.
FSW is accredited by the
.
Students
*Enrollment – 16,576 (Fall 2018)
*Full-time – 36.5%; Part-time – 63.5%
*75.2% of students are 24 years old or younger, 24.8% of students are over the age of 24
*Female - 63.2%; Male - 36.6%
*43.9% White, 33.6% Hispanic/Latino, 11.9% African American, and 4.9% other minorities
*
Dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...
students represent 19.4% of the total fall enrollment.
Athletics
Florida SouthWestern State College resumed its athletics program in 2015 after having been discontinued in 1997. The teams continued to be known once again as the Buccaneers. For the inaugural season, the school fielded teams in softball, baseball, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball. The teams participate in the
Suncoast Conference
The Suncoast Conference (SCC), hosted by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), is one of four conferences within Region 8 of the NJCAA. It is composed of four state colleges within the state of Florida, and is administered by ...
of the Florida State College Activities Association within the
National Junior College Athletic Association
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...
.
On November 29, 2016, the new on-campus
Suncoast Credit Union Arena
Suncoast Credit Union Arena is a multipurpose arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) in Fort Myers, Florida. It is the home of the FSW Buccaneers men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams. It holds 3,500 people i ...
opened. With a seating capacity of 3,500, it is home to the basketball and volleyball teams, as well as the new home of the
City of Palms Classic
The City of Palms Classic is an annual high school basketball tournament held in Fort Myers, Florida.
History
The tournament began in 1973 as a high school boys' basketball tournament with a seven-team format. The earliest editions featured team ...
high school basketball tournament. The arena has also held other basketball events, including Fort Myers Tip Off and concerts.
The baseball and softball team play at the City Of Palms Park, which was home of the Boston Red Sox spring training games from 1993 to 2011.
Campuses
The Thomas Edison campus (formerly the Lee Campus) is the primary campus, located on between College Parkway and Cypress Lake Drive in South Lee county. The campus consists of 24 permanent buildings, including one- and two-story classroom buildings, a library, a bookstore, a cafeteria, a student center, and laboratories for science, computer science, nursing, health technologies, and college preparatory classes. Florida SouthWestern Collegiate High School - Lee is located on this campus. The collegiate high school is a dual-enrollment based program allowing students to earn an
associates degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The fi ...
at the same time as a
high school diploma
A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...
.
The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, opened in 1986, is located on the Thomas Edison Campus and hosts plays, shows, and concerts. The Edison Pops Concert Series is held there annually.
Also located on the
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
Edison campus, the Gallery of Fine Art was renamed the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, on June 4, 2004, celebrating a long time association with artist,
Robert Rauschenberg
Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...
.
7The gallery has been host to many of the artist's exhibitions, since 1980.
8
The Collier County campus is a site off
State Road 951 in east Naples. The Collier campus opened in 1992.
The Charlotte County campus is located on a wooded site on Airport Road in Punta Gorda. The Charlotte campus opened in 1997. It also has a collegiate high school, which was the first collegiate high school in Florida to accept ninth graders.
The Hendry/Glades Center outreach program campus is located on Cowboy Way in LaBelle.
Notable alumni
*
Charles Ghigna
Charles Ghigna (born August 25, 1946), known also as Father Goose is an American poet and author of children's and adults' books. He has written more than 5,000 poems and 100 books.
Ghigna was born in Bayside, Queens. His parents relocated to F ...
, poet and children's author
*
Matt Hudson
Matt Hudson (born July 9, 1966) is an American politician and businessman who served as a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2012 to 2016.
Early life and education
Hudson was born in Colu ...
, member of the
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...
* Mike Scott, former
Lee County, Florida
Lee County is located in Southwest Florida on the Gulf Coast. As of the 2020 census, the population was 760,822. The county seat is Fort Myers (with a population of 86,395 as of the 2020 census), and the largest city is Cape Coral with an esti ...
sheriff
*
Tina Wainscott
Tina Wainscott (born Tina Ritter) is an American author of suspense novels and category romance novels.
Biography
Tina Wainscott was born in Naples, Florida. She was graduated from Lely High School in Naples in 1983 and studied business at Ed ...
, romance and suspense novelist
*
Fuzzy Zoeller
Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller Jr. (; born November 11, 1951) is an American professional golfer who has won ten PGA Tour events including two major championships. He is one of three golfers to have won the Masters Tournament in his first appearan ...
, professional golfer, currently plays on the
Champions Tour
PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour.
History and format
The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...
References
External links
*
Athletics website
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Fort Myers, Florida
Education in Collier County, Florida
Education in Lee County, Florida
Education in Charlotte County, Florida
Educational institutions established in 1962
Florida College System
Two-year colleges in the United States
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
1962 establishments in Florida